I have been saying this for awhile now. I am gen-X and my own parents were silent generation (although at the very end of the generation). I raised my millennial son the same way I was raised--minimal supervision, allowed to fail or not, got his ass beat when he deserved it, and generally feared me finding out things vs being his "friend". Because he went to a small, rural school district many of his peers were raised similarly even though their parents were boomers but many of the females were your typical intolerable feminazi types and he struggled to find companionship for years. He finally found an older woman (haha gen X) and is happily going about his life but he did not find his peers very tolerable once he left the bosom of the small community. There is something to be said for Gen X and I have been praying that we all come out of the woodwork and start setting things right. This will happen at speed as the boomers finally give up the ghost and retire.
I am a Gen X raised by a Greatest Generation father who saw through the shenanigans of the rich elites. My Gen Z daughter is having a difficult time finding peers with these Gen X values.
1) It occurred to me while reading that this is not inconsistent with the forecast / predictions in the book "The Fourth Turning."
2) Technically I'm a Boomer. BUT, I'm in the "Generation Jones" spectrum of same. Essentially coming of age in the era of gas lines, Whip Inflation Now, defeat in Vietnam - i.e., the Jimmy Carter malaise era - out formative experiences and so attitudes are far different than the Boomers who came of age in the 1950's and 1960's. So much so that I hate being lumped-in with them.
Pretty much everything I write or publish is intentionally consistent with "The Fourth Turning" and with George Friedman's "The Storm Before the Calm".
BTW, you may recall that Neil Howe redates the generational boundaries such that Gen X is 1961-1980. So maybe you're one of us.
A very informative and insightful article by Richard Shinder! I thank you Dr. Martin for sharing it with us! Gen X definitely will be the Irish monks of our time. The Irish monks saved western civilization after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire by preserving important religious and secular texts for future generations, now Gen X will rescue western civilization by restoring classical liberal principles and traditional values and eliminating wokeness. The Baby Boomer generation's legacy is complicated and the Boomers' effect on American society has been a mixed bag. One the one hand, the Boomers helped usher in civil rights, women's liberation, LGBTQ+ rights, disability inclusion, environmentalism, animal rights, and consumer rights. They made invaluable technological innovations, significant healthcare advances, had a huge impact of American culture especially in music, art, and literature, expanded education opportunities and vocational training to more people, and contributed to significant economic growth. The Boomer generation also gave us many great people: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Robin Williams, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Ray Kurzweil, Samuel L. Jackson, Sally Ride, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Bill Belichick, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and President Donald Trump among others. So don't get me wrong, the Boomer generation's impact on America and western society hasn't been entirely negative. However, the Boomer generation is also responsible for introducing identity politics, race essentialism, political correctness, language policing, the DEI bureaucracy, and diversity training and concepts like white privilege, cultural appropriation and toxic masculinity into western society. Far-left radicalism in the West was also introduced to us by the Baby Boomers.
Gen X, however, were raised by the Greatest and Silent Generations NOT the Baby Boomers. Their parents and grandparents who lived through World War I, the Influenza Epidemic, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, World War II, the Holocaust, and the dropping of the two Atomic Bombs understood better than anyone what hardship and living through hard times meant. They instilled in Gen X their values of reticence, self-discipline, respect for authority, individualism, and self-reliance. Gen X also came to develop these values in reaction to the indulgence and excesses of the Boomers. Long before Millennials started saying the infamous phrase "OK Boomer" Gen X hated the Boomers and their values. The political correctness of the 1980s and 1990s that the Boomers sought to institute, Gen X laughed at. In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the Baby Boomers took control of American society from the Greatest and Silent Generations and started instituting and spreading woke ideology and DEI ideals. In the early 2010s is when they would become mainstream and gain cultural hegemony. Gen X a generation of latchkey kids was still reeling from living through the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation, the assassination of music legend and cultural icon John Lennon, increasing divorce rates, widespread drug addiction, the AIDS Epidemic, the birth of the internet and the personal computer, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the USSR were not about to stick their metaphorical head out of the proverbial foxhole to try and help the Millennials who if anything were merely ideological acylates of the Boomers. However, there is reason for optimism. The Millennials are moving away from wokeness and are gradually beginning to lose faith in the Democratic Party. Gen Z is up for grabs. There is plenty of evidence they will better off than their predecessors. Gen Z is NOT solidly behind the Democratic Party and the left as the Millennials were, this is why a significant percentage of Gen Z is conservative, libertarian or moderate.
Gen Z is at the forefront of the revival of traditional values, marriage, the nuclear family, and organized religion in the United States and the West more broadly. Lastly, Gen X's time has come, and they are gradually succeeding the Boomers as the keepers of our society. The Boomers will not fully turn over the country to the Xers without a fight but the generational shift to Gen X is proceeding. I would also point out Gen X came out and voted for Donald Trump in 2024 more so than any other generation did. This is because they identify with Trump's outspoken and blunt manner, disregard for identity politics and political correctness and decisive unapologetic approach to governing. I would also point out that Gen X has produced such luminaries such as 9/11 hero Todd Beamer, Football star Emmitt Smith, Actor Robert Downey, Jr., Author and Women's Rights Activists J.K. Rowling, Music icons Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, and Tupac Shakur, Businessman and Entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, TV and Movie star Will Smith, Model Brooke Shields, Wrestling legend and Actor Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, Boxer Lennox Lewis, Billionaire Elon Musk, Golf legend Tiger Woods, Rocker Kurt Cobain, Basketball greats Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, Comedian Chris Tucker, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and ex-Senator and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Gen X furthermore, has contributed just as much to American society. They were the first generation to grow up with personal computers and video game consoles. This is why they were able to help lay the foundation for the Digital Revolution. They also were instrumental in the rise of programming and coding. They were pivotal in the rise of alternative music and Indie films. Gen X paved the way for today's streaming services by changing how we view entertainment with the VCR. They've been at the forefront of the fight for environmental protection, racial equality and LGBTQ+ rights. Lastly, they championed the work-life balance and helped change workplace culture for the better.
Boomer here. 1957. Worked since I was 12. Never fell for wokeism. Never been on welfare. Rejected unions and government from the beginning. I feel betrayed by the DC swamp and the marxist professors. I blame the 1913 central bank treason. The roosevelts and rockefellers.
I've written on this before elsewhere, and my primary argument is that "generations" don't really do anything whether good or evil. All the so-called generations are simply demographic data, specifying a group of people born within certain dates. Only individuals can generate good, or evil works.
That said, as an early Boomer (1946) I have observed how my generation was the pig in the python: because we are/were a significantly large group, our process of growing and aging created problems of expanding existing facilities and systems to handle the large numbers. In most cases, at least until we had achieved enough maturity to take control, those processes were completely out of our hands. So in many ways, some of us Boomers resent being accused of creating so many of society's ills.
I do believe that if you wanted to ascribe blame to any one group, you might be advised to look at the work of individuals in the "Silent Generation." Born mostly in the '30s, they were too young to fight in WWII, but old enough to go off to college where they ran into and were heavily influenced by the resident Marxists. Those were the older siblings, cousins and younger relatives of us Boomers, and many in our generation were influenced by them: thus the explosion of radical liberalism in the '60s and '70s.
Some of us had the good fortune of not enjoying all the affluence of the glory days after WWII, and instead absorbed the values of our parents, who went through that war, and our grandparents, who experienced WWI, not the mention the Great Depression.
Like an earlier commenter, I had a regular job from the time I was 9 years old until I retired at 64. As a young white male, I got to enjoy all the "benefits" of Affirmative Action. And now in my retirement I get to read about "white supremacy" and "toxic masculinity." But I persevered, working two jobs for 20 years so my girls could get their primary education at a private, Bible based school. And by the grace of God, here I stand. I think I represent a rather large number of the "hated" group known as Boomers.
Again, it's all about the individual. I am sure there are some individual members of my generation that did and are doing things that are detrimental to society. After all, we're all sinners and all eligible to be saved by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Let's pray that all members of all generations might come to repentance and be saved. Before God calls an end to this world.
Obviously every individual is different. However, I do believe we can meaningfully track the unique personalities of larger groupings such as generations. And in that specific case, the simplest reason is that a particular cohort of people are raised a certain way -- this one under this influence of Dr. Spock, that one under the influence of "Gentle Parenting", etc. -- and then collectively rebel against aspects of their own upbringing.
Neil Howe has identified four such parenting styles, which range from hyper-strict to hyper-permissive, with transitional styles in between. And he has done a masterful job of showing how that four-generation cycle has repeated itself in Anglo-American life since at least the Wars of the Roses.
Net result: our next "Boomer"-like generation is already among us: Gen Alpha.
I have some truly brilliant friends who are convinced of the validity of Neil's work. I also have at least one equally brilliant friend who calls it "astrology for humanities majors."
In any case, with the foregoing caveat, I agree with most of what you write here, especially as to the Silent Generation. And while Boomers as a group may sometimes be annoying to those who've come after, many of the "sins" attributed them don't really stand scrutiny. "They bought up all the houses!" is especially silly.
Amen and amen.
I have been saying this for awhile now. I am gen-X and my own parents were silent generation (although at the very end of the generation). I raised my millennial son the same way I was raised--minimal supervision, allowed to fail or not, got his ass beat when he deserved it, and generally feared me finding out things vs being his "friend". Because he went to a small, rural school district many of his peers were raised similarly even though their parents were boomers but many of the females were your typical intolerable feminazi types and he struggled to find companionship for years. He finally found an older woman (haha gen X) and is happily going about his life but he did not find his peers very tolerable once he left the bosom of the small community. There is something to be said for Gen X and I have been praying that we all come out of the woodwork and start setting things right. This will happen at speed as the boomers finally give up the ghost and retire.
I am a Gen X raised by a Greatest Generation father who saw through the shenanigans of the rich elites. My Gen Z daughter is having a difficult time finding peers with these Gen X values.
1) It occurred to me while reading that this is not inconsistent with the forecast / predictions in the book "The Fourth Turning."
2) Technically I'm a Boomer. BUT, I'm in the "Generation Jones" spectrum of same. Essentially coming of age in the era of gas lines, Whip Inflation Now, defeat in Vietnam - i.e., the Jimmy Carter malaise era - out formative experiences and so attitudes are far different than the Boomers who came of age in the 1950's and 1960's. So much so that I hate being lumped-in with them.
"our formative experiences" - d**n autofill got me again.
Pretty much everything I write or publish is intentionally consistent with "The Fourth Turning" and with George Friedman's "The Storm Before the Calm".
BTW, you may recall that Neil Howe redates the generational boundaries such that Gen X is 1961-1980. So maybe you're one of us.
1956, so I missed being one of you by a (relative) hair. But I'm with you in spirit.
A very informative and insightful article by Richard Shinder! I thank you Dr. Martin for sharing it with us! Gen X definitely will be the Irish monks of our time. The Irish monks saved western civilization after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire by preserving important religious and secular texts for future generations, now Gen X will rescue western civilization by restoring classical liberal principles and traditional values and eliminating wokeness. The Baby Boomer generation's legacy is complicated and the Boomers' effect on American society has been a mixed bag. One the one hand, the Boomers helped usher in civil rights, women's liberation, LGBTQ+ rights, disability inclusion, environmentalism, animal rights, and consumer rights. They made invaluable technological innovations, significant healthcare advances, had a huge impact of American culture especially in music, art, and literature, expanded education opportunities and vocational training to more people, and contributed to significant economic growth. The Boomer generation also gave us many great people: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Robin Williams, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Ray Kurzweil, Samuel L. Jackson, Sally Ride, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Bill Belichick, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and President Donald Trump among others. So don't get me wrong, the Boomer generation's impact on America and western society hasn't been entirely negative. However, the Boomer generation is also responsible for introducing identity politics, race essentialism, political correctness, language policing, the DEI bureaucracy, and diversity training and concepts like white privilege, cultural appropriation and toxic masculinity into western society. Far-left radicalism in the West was also introduced to us by the Baby Boomers.
Gen X, however, were raised by the Greatest and Silent Generations NOT the Baby Boomers. Their parents and grandparents who lived through World War I, the Influenza Epidemic, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, World War II, the Holocaust, and the dropping of the two Atomic Bombs understood better than anyone what hardship and living through hard times meant. They instilled in Gen X their values of reticence, self-discipline, respect for authority, individualism, and self-reliance. Gen X also came to develop these values in reaction to the indulgence and excesses of the Boomers. Long before Millennials started saying the infamous phrase "OK Boomer" Gen X hated the Boomers and their values. The political correctness of the 1980s and 1990s that the Boomers sought to institute, Gen X laughed at. In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the Baby Boomers took control of American society from the Greatest and Silent Generations and started instituting and spreading woke ideology and DEI ideals. In the early 2010s is when they would become mainstream and gain cultural hegemony. Gen X a generation of latchkey kids was still reeling from living through the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation, the assassination of music legend and cultural icon John Lennon, increasing divorce rates, widespread drug addiction, the AIDS Epidemic, the birth of the internet and the personal computer, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the USSR were not about to stick their metaphorical head out of the proverbial foxhole to try and help the Millennials who if anything were merely ideological acylates of the Boomers. However, there is reason for optimism. The Millennials are moving away from wokeness and are gradually beginning to lose faith in the Democratic Party. Gen Z is up for grabs. There is plenty of evidence they will better off than their predecessors. Gen Z is NOT solidly behind the Democratic Party and the left as the Millennials were, this is why a significant percentage of Gen Z is conservative, libertarian or moderate.
Gen Z is at the forefront of the revival of traditional values, marriage, the nuclear family, and organized religion in the United States and the West more broadly. Lastly, Gen X's time has come, and they are gradually succeeding the Boomers as the keepers of our society. The Boomers will not fully turn over the country to the Xers without a fight but the generational shift to Gen X is proceeding. I would also point out Gen X came out and voted for Donald Trump in 2024 more so than any other generation did. This is because they identify with Trump's outspoken and blunt manner, disregard for identity politics and political correctness and decisive unapologetic approach to governing. I would also point out that Gen X has produced such luminaries such as 9/11 hero Todd Beamer, Football star Emmitt Smith, Actor Robert Downey, Jr., Author and Women's Rights Activists J.K. Rowling, Music icons Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, and Tupac Shakur, Businessman and Entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, TV and Movie star Will Smith, Model Brooke Shields, Wrestling legend and Actor Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, Boxer Lennox Lewis, Billionaire Elon Musk, Golf legend Tiger Woods, Rocker Kurt Cobain, Basketball greats Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, Comedian Chris Tucker, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and ex-Senator and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Gen X furthermore, has contributed just as much to American society. They were the first generation to grow up with personal computers and video game consoles. This is why they were able to help lay the foundation for the Digital Revolution. They also were instrumental in the rise of programming and coding. They were pivotal in the rise of alternative music and Indie films. Gen X paved the way for today's streaming services by changing how we view entertainment with the VCR. They've been at the forefront of the fight for environmental protection, racial equality and LGBTQ+ rights. Lastly, they championed the work-life balance and helped change workplace culture for the better.
Boomer here. 1957. Worked since I was 12. Never fell for wokeism. Never been on welfare. Rejected unions and government from the beginning. I feel betrayed by the DC swamp and the marxist professors. I blame the 1913 central bank treason. The roosevelts and rockefellers.
I've written on this before elsewhere, and my primary argument is that "generations" don't really do anything whether good or evil. All the so-called generations are simply demographic data, specifying a group of people born within certain dates. Only individuals can generate good, or evil works.
That said, as an early Boomer (1946) I have observed how my generation was the pig in the python: because we are/were a significantly large group, our process of growing and aging created problems of expanding existing facilities and systems to handle the large numbers. In most cases, at least until we had achieved enough maturity to take control, those processes were completely out of our hands. So in many ways, some of us Boomers resent being accused of creating so many of society's ills.
I do believe that if you wanted to ascribe blame to any one group, you might be advised to look at the work of individuals in the "Silent Generation." Born mostly in the '30s, they were too young to fight in WWII, but old enough to go off to college where they ran into and were heavily influenced by the resident Marxists. Those were the older siblings, cousins and younger relatives of us Boomers, and many in our generation were influenced by them: thus the explosion of radical liberalism in the '60s and '70s.
Some of us had the good fortune of not enjoying all the affluence of the glory days after WWII, and instead absorbed the values of our parents, who went through that war, and our grandparents, who experienced WWI, not the mention the Great Depression.
Like an earlier commenter, I had a regular job from the time I was 9 years old until I retired at 64. As a young white male, I got to enjoy all the "benefits" of Affirmative Action. And now in my retirement I get to read about "white supremacy" and "toxic masculinity." But I persevered, working two jobs for 20 years so my girls could get their primary education at a private, Bible based school. And by the grace of God, here I stand. I think I represent a rather large number of the "hated" group known as Boomers.
Again, it's all about the individual. I am sure there are some individual members of my generation that did and are doing things that are detrimental to society. After all, we're all sinners and all eligible to be saved by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Let's pray that all members of all generations might come to repentance and be saved. Before God calls an end to this world.
Obviously every individual is different. However, I do believe we can meaningfully track the unique personalities of larger groupings such as generations. And in that specific case, the simplest reason is that a particular cohort of people are raised a certain way -- this one under this influence of Dr. Spock, that one under the influence of "Gentle Parenting", etc. -- and then collectively rebel against aspects of their own upbringing.
Neil Howe has identified four such parenting styles, which range from hyper-strict to hyper-permissive, with transitional styles in between. And he has done a masterful job of showing how that four-generation cycle has repeated itself in Anglo-American life since at least the Wars of the Roses.
Net result: our next "Boomer"-like generation is already among us: Gen Alpha.
I have some truly brilliant friends who are convinced of the validity of Neil's work. I also have at least one equally brilliant friend who calls it "astrology for humanities majors."
In any case, with the foregoing caveat, I agree with most of what you write here, especially as to the Silent Generation. And while Boomers as a group may sometimes be annoying to those who've come after, many of the "sins" attributed them don't really stand scrutiny. "They bought up all the houses!" is especially silly.